CAMBUSLANG Rangers boss Alan Wardlaw believes his side’s three defeats on the bounce have come against three of the hardest opponents they could have faced.

The Lang been beaten by Beith in the New Coin Automatics West of Scotland Cup, Glasgow Perthshire away in the league, and then Shotts Bon Accord in the Emirates Scottish Cup on Saturday.

But the side were never brushed aside in any of those games, giving Alan some hope for the remainder of the season.

He said: “We have had a very tough run of games since the New Year - if you could have hand-picked three games you didn’t want, these would probably have been them.

“We’ve played Beith, who are second top of the premier league, then Perthshire, who are top of our league and unbeaten, and then Shotts, who are undefeated in super league division one.

“We were realistic enough to know we’d be looking to give a good account of ourselves in the cup games, and to be honest we did that to a certain degree. We got some plaudits against Beith, mistakes of our own doing cost us at Perthshire, and on Saturday against Shotts we were given some plaudits.

“One of the guys who’s about the committee but not actually on it came up to me afterwards and commended us, so it’s nice to get any credit for your performance.

“I heard that on the Cambuslang web forum there was a Shotts fan who had come on to say he had been impressed by our performance, so it’s always nice to get a wee bit of reassurance and verbal backing.

“Everybody at the club is hurting right now, but we’ve got to take a lot of positives from this run of games, which have been close, and although the results are disappointing, we can focus on the positives and take things on.”

Alan believes the weather conditions overhead and underfoot played a part in the game.

He explained: “It was always going to be a game of two halves with the weather conditions, as there was a very strong wind coming from the bottom of the park to the top, and they took advantage of it in the first half.

“The best football both teams played was when they were going into the wind. But we weren’t helped by a very heavy pitch.

“We were unlucky when their keeper pulled off a terrific save which would have given us an equaliser in the first half, but when they scored their second it was very well worked.”

Cambuslang have made further changes to their playing pool since full-time on Saturday, with the departure of several players, including player-coach and captain Graham Doak, an unused sub against Shotts.

Alan said: “We’ve released our reserve goalkeeper Colin McGraw, whose work was getting in the way of training and he also wants to be playing every Saturday.

“Gerry O’Connell has never really broken into the team. He’s been on the fringes but never quite made the breakthrough.

“But Graham Doak was the difficult one. He informed us he wishes to leave the club as he feels that he can’t maintain a starting position as much as he hoped he could.

“I’ve known him for years - he’s actually a relative, so that made it even harder - but I can fully understand his position. He’s been a great servant to the club and we fully appreciate where he’s coming from.

“He wants to play ever week, but as his age being in and out of the team isn’t what he wants. He could still do a job for someone, and we sincerely wish him well for the future.

“As a result, Gareth Timoney will be the new captain. I’ve already spoken with him and he’s agreed to take it on, and I’ll be speaking to Ross Barr about being vice-captain.”

But Alan added: “I don’t think we’ve lost anybody that we haven’t replaced with at least a better player.

“The guys leaving will be replaced - we’ve already earmarked a keeper who was once full-time with Kilmarnock.

“We’ve brought in guys like Stevie Mackie and Billy Stevenson who have impressed. Guys like Thomas Kilmartin have admitted they’ve not hit the heights they have done in previous years, so he was on the bench on Saturday.

“We have to bring fresh faces into the club and will have three or four trialists with us in training this week.

“But as I’ve said before, we need a squad, a group of players who are content to be part of that squad and appreciate they won’t be playing from the start every week.

“If you don’t want to stay and fight for your place, then there’s no point in being here.

“That applies to everyone who’s left since the start of the season, with the exception of Graham Doak, as there was never any questioning his commitment to the club.”

This Saturday, the Lang host St Anthony’s at Somervell Park, with a 2pm kick off.

Alan added: “The tough games keep coming hard and fast now.

“We’re down at the bottom of the table, we’re third bottom on goal difference, so we need to start winning these games.

“We do have some games in hand over some of the teams above us which could lift us comfortably right up there if we win them, but that’s easier said than done.

“We need to put in the level of performance we put in against Shotts and Beith against the teams in our league so we can start to get a run of victories going.

“They boys have something to prove - they’ve put in a lot of work and decent performances and come away with nothing. It’s time to change that.”